Jose Miguel Castro receives 18 months of preventive detention Policy

Judge Jorge Chávez Tamarez, of the Third Trial Chamber, issued 18 months of pre-trial detention against the former mayor of the capital Lima José Miguel Castro.

Castro, a former confidant of the former mayor Susanna VillarranThey are investigated for money-laundering, passive bribery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Prosecution charges that he asked for money from companies Odebrecht The Organization of American States (OAS) for the campaign against abolition and the financing of an attempt to re-elect a former Director, amounting to $ 10 million.

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The prosecution has filed some 12 new pro-appearance support elements with restrictions on pre-trial detention for 36 months against the former Lima municipal director, José Miguel Castro, to file the current request and receive the alleged illegal funds from Odebrecht and OAS.

Among the new elements that highlight the statements of officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the Rotas Nuevaas projects in Lima and Linna Amarilla, the 033-2014 report on Vias Nueva in Lima and the announcements of aspiring collaborators 101-2019, 105-2019, 110-2019, 120-2019 and 130-2019.

The Deputy Special Prosecutor of the Special Group recalled that according to the accounting forms submitted by Odebrecht, the symbol "Budián" appeared, which, according to an official from the same company, corresponded to the name of José Miguel Castro. These loan names are associated with funds under the Vías Nuevas de Lima program.

The prosecution asserts that, according to co-operative candidate 101-2019, Castro Gutierrez asked "to hand over the illegal resources of the Suzana Villarán campaign through contracts in Brazil to Valderim Garita and Ogilvy, in addition to the money earned through Luis Gomez Corningo.

In addition, the prosecutor said, according to candidate 120-2019, that Castro Gutierrez is the one who referred to Cesar Miggas Rogas as the person who will conclude with him the phantom contracts to make the link connecting the money. While the ambitious collaborator 130-2019 believed that Castro Gutierrez had agreed to help the Organization of American States resolve the yellow line

Prosecutors explained that at the house of José Miguel Castro, during a raid on 25 April 2019, a card was found in the name of César Meiggs Rojas and CMR. That is to say, the same person appointed by Castro to receive funds from the Organization of American States, according to the ambitious collaborator.

Added to that finding a card bearing the name of Lima could not stop, and this verified that Castro had to do with the calling campaign, although he denied it.

With regard to the crime of money-laundering, the Prosecutor said that it would be proved in the "no-cancellation" case, with payments to foreign creditors Luis Favre and Vladimir Garita. Also with fake contracts with Ogilvy.

While, in the case of re-election 2014, on OAS funds, the prosecution submitted contracts with the CMR and Constructora y Consultores Generación de César Meiggs and the money revenues through Luis Gomez Cornejo through "doleiros".

In diagnosing the penalty, the prosecutor imposes a real competition for unlawful association, bribery and money-laundering offenses, resulting in a possible penalty of more than 15 years.

In support of procedural risk, the Prosecutor pointed out that in the other investigations not related to Lava Jato, Castro Gutierrez did not attend his presentation or request a re-programming.

"Another example of the procedural behavior that Mr. Castro Gutierrez wishes to avoid is the transfer of his home to his wife," the prosecutor said. This transfer was made when the former municipal director was already under investigation for the contributions of Odebrecht and OAS.

On the risk of impediments, the prosecutor saved the interview Susanna Villarran, where Villarran accepted responsibility for the Organization of American States and Odebrecht.

The prosecutor said: "Then, there were formats for what was said to generate alibis before the prosecutor's investigation."

The report also presented the voice of the talks between Villarran, Castro and Prado.

"There were investigators investigating the facts of the investigation and the facts of the statements made by third parties," the prosecutor said.

According to the collaborator 145-2019, the Prosecutor General, Oscar Fedorita (Director of Ogilvy), wrote in a document that Castro had hired him for his advertising services. That's why Castro claimed and told him why he was involved.

The collaborator recalled that José Miguel Castro summoned him to the Park Plaza Hotel in August 2018, where he "ordered him to say that he only knew him through a social meeting and told him that his lawyer would accompany him in a declaration to cause the fear to the advertiser."

The prosecutor added that the candidate of the collaborator 140-2019, "also confirms that Castro Gutierrez was paying and threatens the OAS, and that if he did not get paid, he would have access to money."

`Villarán: The judiciary dictates 18 months of preventive detention"Villarran:" I am not one of those who flee, and do not evade justice "

– The risk did not increase

Bangui Espinosa Ramos, Castro Guterres's lawyer, did not challenge the prosecution's conviction. However, it has questioned the elements associated with procedural risks (flight risk and obstruction).

In this context, counsel argued that, in accordance with the rule, in order to change the appearance of preventive detention, new elements must be taken into consideration in view of the dictation of the accused.

Therefore, in the investigation of the Odebrecht case, he confirmed that Castro Gutierrez complied with the rules imposed by the judiciary after dictating the appearance imposed on him in 2018 and attended all the summonses of the Special Panel.

The lawyer noted that the statements of the ambitious collaborators 140-2019 and 145-2019 are from yesterday and today. This does not claim that it was warm or that their statements are evidence of an obstacle on the part of the sponsor.

On the voice recorded by Gabriel Prado with Susanna Villarran and José Miguel Castro, he said it would be published. "There is no expert evidence and the sound is not compatible with my client," he said.

"There has been no significant increase in the elements to prove the risk of disability," Espinosa said. "There is no evidence of procedural risk," he said, adding that no order could be issued for preventive detention against Castro.

José Miguel Castro, who took the floor, said his behavior "was flawless".

Castro said he had made "mistakes" that he "must face the courts" and stressed that they would be brought to justice.

"I want to apologize to the people affected by my environment. I take responsibility in a personal way and that is what I agree with," he told Judge Chavez Tamares.

He claimed that he was not part of a "silent agreement" with his co-accused Susanna Villarran and Gabriel Prado.

In addition, he stressed that he underwent an effective cooperation process, but this was not achieved.

"Two weeks ago, I agreed to undergo a process of cooperation with the prosecution. Unfortunately, this operation collapsed on Monday evening, when we already had a deal with the prosecution," he said.

The economist and son of the former United Left MP Julio Castro, former general manager of the Lima municipality, had detailed information on investment in municipal infrastructure.

According to the allegation, José Miguel Castro He was the person who negotiated that Odebrecht would provide $ 3 million and that the Organization of American States would pay $ 7 million. The prosecution confirms that he was the person in charge of coordinating the campaign in which Villarran was mayor.

Peruvian prosecutors told Jorge Parata that when he started the summons against Villarán (end of 2012), he received a phone call from Castro to meet him in the municipality of Lima. The former president of Odebrecht in Peru went with Raul Ribeiro, representative of the Rotas de Lima Consortium, because he thought they would talk about the Vías Nuevas de Lima project.

On that day, Castro would ask for a contribution of $ 3 million. Ribeiro confirmed that Castro had made the request to Barata. The funds were distributed in two ways: US $ 2 million was paid to campaign Valdemir Garreta, and a million dollars in cash was paid to Castro, according to Barata.

At the start of Tuesday's session, Castro announced that his lawyer Jose Urgo had resigned at the last minute to take charge of his legal defense. Judge Chavez Tammarez said that at this hearing, the former mayor will be temporarily assisted by a public lawyer and that at Wednesday's session he will receive a private lawyer of his confidence.

Judge Castro warned that his new lawyer should be aware of his case and that if the Wednesday session required time to prepare, "I simply exclude him and continue the public defense that has been set," he said.

It should be noted that although the prosecution has demanded 36 months of preventive detention for Castro, most likely, should the judge decide to change the current appearance, he will be held in custody for only 18 months, as prepared for Villarran. The judge believes that the time is cautious because the investigation is very advanced and will not take three years to complete it.